Camping at Currant Creek

This past June (I know, I am SO BEHIND!) Ayla and I got to go camping with Kyle's family at Currant Creek.  They go every year and Kyle loves it.  I remember when he went last year and I HATED it because he was without cell service for a week!  This year, I loved it.  I had so much fun with the Lee family, sleeping in the trailer, riding the 4-wheelers, eating yummy camping food (aka good dinners and LOTS of junk food), fishing, shooting, etc.

It was so beautiful up there.  Being up in the mountains with so many trees actually made my heart happy.  It reminded me of where I grew up.  And not having any cell phones or computers for that week was actually really great.  It was so fun to be able to connect with Kyle and Ayla and everyone else with none of those distractions (addictions) that are always there.

Like Brynn (age 7) said to her grandpa while we were up there, "Sometimes it's good to just have time with your family."  Yup, it sure is.

Here are my pictures from that week.  These are in no particular order.  I don't feel like going through and putting them in their correct timeline.  :)

Megan Czarnocki Photography

I'm not even going to talk about how behind I am with this blog.  Nope.

I'm am going to talk about Megan Czarnocki Photography!  Megan is a friend of Kyle.  She is a photographer, and such a good one!  We have had her take pictures of Ayla, our engagement pictures, our bridals/groomals, and she'll be photographing our wedding.  I have seriously been SO happy with everything that she has done for us!  She's amazing!  My favorite thing is that she is so easy to be around and FUN, but she's still so professional.  I love her.  If you're in the Utah Valley area you should check her out.

Anyway,  here are a few pictures that she's done for us.  I've just chosen 3 from each session.  The bridals haven't been shown to people yet so this is a sneak peek!  WOO!

Ayla's pictures taken at Megan's studio in April:  (She has already grown up so much since then, it makes me sad!)

Our engagement pictures taken in June:

9/8 for September 8th, our wedding day!  (Seahawks and Packers!) And they say "LEE" on the back!

AND our amazing bridals.  I LOVE THEM!

Seriously, how gorgeous are those pictures?  She did the best job.  I cannot say it enough!  I am so excited to see what she does with our wedding photos and to do some family pictures in the fall!  (Megan, we need to book you for family pictures in the fall!)

Also, here's a peek at our wedding invite, if you didn't send me your address to get one!  Our wedding which is only 11 days away... WHAT?!?!  YESSSS!  (P.S. the red lines on the invites are just showing where the edges would actually be cut when printed, this is just the proof!)  Invites designed by Annette Ward Studio.  Annette was also really great to work with, and like Megan, local and so reasonably priced!

Busy, busy, busy.

I feel like my life is non-stop right now.  I am just go, go, going!  Needless to say, my documentation is falling by the way side.

I swear I will write more someday about what is going on in our lives, but for right now I just want to document one thing that I never want to forget.

It was a weeknight, we were just spending time at my house.  I was cooking dinner and attempting to bake a cake.  (I say attempting because I only have a toaster oven.  It was a fail.)  I was listening to music.  Ayla and Kyle were rolling around the floor.  Tickling, laughing, playing.  Just having fun.

Kyle looked up and me and said, "Can we be married already so this can be my life everyday?"

My heart just about melted.  I love him.  And I love our girl.  I love us together.  I can't wait to be a family.  And although I know not every night will be exactly like that, it will be perfect just to be together.

Whirlwind.

Almost daily I think about things that I want to blog about.  I have all these thoughts that I would love to write down and sort out and archive... but I don't.  I get busy and I get tired or lazy or forgetful.

But here I am with an update!

First of all- AYLA WENT POO IN HER "BIG GIRL POTTY" THIS MORNING!  I know, I know.   Gross. You don't care.  But this is really fantastic news for us.  I have been attempting to potty train her for like... ever.  I mean, she'll be 3 in November!  It's just so hard because she is in school for 6 hours a day and we are all over the place spending time with Kyle and avoiding our cramped quarters that we call home, so potty training just hasn't happened.  I have been feeling very discouraged about it lately and have been researching and brainstorming the techniques that I think my girl would like best.  Turns out she just needs to do it on her own time.  This doesn't surprise me in the least.  She took forever to learn to walk.  I thought she would NEVER walk.  And then when she was 15 months old she took off running and never looked back.  And then the talking... I was so worried when she took forever to start talking.  But again, when she decided she was ready, I swear she was practically speaking full sentences.  I have come to the conclusion that my stubborn daughter will do things her own way in her own time.  I need to start trusting that she really is listening and she really is understanding.  She just wants to soak it all in and show me in her own way.  Anyway, she has recently been telling me and her teacher at school when she needs to go potty.  And she goes!  She likes her independence and her privacy.  She wants the door shut and she wants to do it by herself!  My girl is so independent.  And so smart.  I am so proud of her!

One thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is the relationship between Kyle and Ayla.  I so love seeing them together.  I am truly lucky that I found a man who was so open to my little girl and is so great with her.  He has really stepped in and accepted her and he shows her (and me) every day that he really loves and cares about her.  And boy, does she love him.  When "Kylo" isn't there she is talking about him.  She is asking where he is, if she can see him, what he's doing, etc.  She turns almost every object into a pretend phone and calls "Daddio".  She has long detailed conversation where she explains everything that she is doing.  She still calls him "Kylo" but she has also thrown in "Daddy Kyky" and most recently and most frequently, "Daddio".  That one is my favorite.  It makes me so happy to see her recognizing him as a fatherly figure.  In true Ayla form; in her own way and on her own time.

As we get closer and closer (93 DAYS!) to our wedding and we spend more and more time with Kyle it becomes harder to be away from him.  It gets harder every time we leave his house in the evening and Ayla cries for him.  It is almost physically painful to listen to her laying in bed at night asking to be snuggled by "Daddio" when he isn't there.  I say, "I'm sorry baby, he's not here.  He's at his own house."  And she cries and says, "I want Daddio, mom!"  And I know exactly how she is feeling because I feel the same way!  We are so close, but still so far.

I cannot wait until we are married and able to settle into our home as a family and get into a routine and not be living this all-over-the-place lifestyle that I feel we are currently living.

When I was talking with my Bishop this past Sunday I mentioned that we were going on a trip with Kyle and his family this month.  He told me that he thinks every engaged couple should go on at least one trip together because the way you act when you are away from home and out of your comfort zone and together constantly can really show you a lot about the person you are going to marry.  Kyle and I were talking about this later that day and we talked about our trip to Arizona this past January.  If I didn't already think I wanted to marry Kyle before, I sure thought it after that trip!  When we came home from a long weekend of being together all day every day and having him two doors down in the same house I was depressed.  I was so sad that he was 8 miles away from us.  I remember sitting in my bed and sulking because it made me so incredibly sad to have that glimpse of what life living with him was like and then to have to go back to not living with him.  That was the worst.  And it has been increasingly hard every since then.  Especially since we are engaged and we KNOW that we will be spending forever together.  I just want it now!  I am not a patient person!  93 days... only 93 days...  We have come this far!  The wait is going to be so worth it!

I love our little family!

Exciting news... We had our engagement photos taken last week!  There will be a post dedicated just to those when I get them!

Also... My iPhone has finally died.  I am really sad about it.  I have over 3,000 photos and videos on that phone that are a'goner.  And now I have to have an old, ancient, boring replacement phone until I get eventually get an iPhone again.  Sigh.